International News
The Freightos Baltic Global index fell 9% month-on-month in April to $2,384/FEU, as rates continued to ease from the pre-Lunar New Year and early Red Sea diversion-driven highs of January and February. As the decline has slowed, however, prices may be reaching their new floor as long as Red Sea diversions continue to absorb excess capacity, with the global benchmark still 79% higher than in April 2019.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell for the third consecutive session on Monday, weighed down by lower capesize and panamax vessel rates.
According to Maersk, container lines have lost 15-20% capacity on routes from Asia to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean due to the Red Sea crisis.
The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index extended its rally on Tuesday to hit its highest in more than six weeks, supported by a jump in the tsegment.
“In 2023, 2.3 million TEU of container ship capacity was delivered, beating the former all-time high by 37%. Year-to-date another record has been set as more than 1 million TEU has already been delivered during the first four months of the year, an increase of nearly 80% compared to the previous record,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.
December 11 last year saw Star Bulk Carriers Corp and Eagle Bulk Shipping announce that: “the companies have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock merger on a Net Asset Value to Net Asset Value (“NAV”) basis with a pro forma market capitalization of approximately $2.1 billion.”
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued a 180-day ban to the Indian-flagged bulk carrier Darya Shaan due to repeated safety risks. The AMSA says the operator, Anglo-Eastern Ship Management (India), repeatedly failed to report serious defects to the main engine and machinery as the ship entered Australian ports.
A new report by analysts at influential Danish Ship Finance will make for uneasy reading for shipowners and shipbuilders alike, suggesting that seaborne trades will decline through to 2050 and the age-old correlation with global GDP growth is increasingly redundant.
The price for a modern VLCC has been hovering near record levels over the past few months.In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Gibson said that “VLCC asset prices appear to be caught in a paradoxical market scenario. While conventional market sentiment and pricing models would suggest that prices are reaching overheated levels, mirroring the peaks seen in 2008, the underlying supply dynamics seem to justify these increases for now.A key indicator signaling that the secondhand asset market might be overheating is the price differential between the five-year-old benchmark and the current benchmark for newbuildings. This gap has narrowed to approximately 12%, marking the narrowest gap since the OPEC battle for market share in 2015 caused secondhand values to briefly appreciate out of step with newbuilding prices. The surge in prices and demand for modern tonnage can be attributed to the underlying belief that promptly delivered ships can yield enhanced returns in the short to medium te
Moving Russian oil through Europe has come under far greater scrutiny in recent weeks with the bloc widely expected to take further measures against the so-called shadow fleet when further European Union sanctions are unveiled shortly.
